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According to the FDA, a recent report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) warns about the dangers of misprescribing fentanyl transdermal patches, such as Duragesic. Recommendations to help avoid tragic and preventable errors includes: Sometimes patients and family members do not understand that heat can increase absorption of the drug to dangerous levels. So patients should be told to avoid heating pads, electric blankets or hot baths while the patch is in place, and let their doctors know if they develop a temperature above 102 degrees. There have also been cases where children found used patches in the trash and applied them to their own bodies, and died as a result. And so patients should be warned to…Read More

Oct. 23, 2008 Florida Supreme Court Affirms Injured Worker’s Rights Attorneys to Receive “Reasonable Fees” in Workers’ Compensation Cases Today, Thursday, October 23, in Emma Murray v. Mariner Health (Case No. SC07-244), the Florida Supreme Court addressed the issue of attorney’s fees payable by the employer/carrier to the claimant’s counsel in a Workers’ Compensation matter and concluded that in this circumstance the claimant is entitled to recover a “reasonable” attorney’s fee. The decision involved the interpretation of a statutory provision (§440.34, Fla. Stat.) that had been altered as part of the drastic changes to the Workers’ Compensation law enacted by the legislature in 2003. The Court reached its conclusion by applying rules of statutory construction to what it found to…Read More

By Claudeth Henry, R.N. J.D. In what was surely the most widely anticipated workers’ compensation case in several years, the Florida Supreme Court in Emma Murray v. Mariner, a 5-0 ruling, invalidated the 2003 amendment (PDF) to §440.34. That amendment attempted to limit carrier paid claimant’s attorney’s fees to a strict percentage of the benefits secured. Declining to address the constitutional challenges, the court concluded that the statute was ambiguous. The ambiguity arose between subsection (1) which forbade the JCC from awarding attorney’s fees in any amount other than a percentage of the benefits secured by the attorney, and subsection (3) which requires the JCC to award “a reasonable attorney’s fee,” but setting no criteria for how to determine a…Read More

For the past several years, injured workers in the state of Florida have found it difficult to obtain competent legal representation in their worker’s compensation case because of the 2003 amendments to the Florida worker’s compensation statutes limiting carrier paid fees to claimant’s attorneys who successfully secured benefits on the claimant’s behalf. In Murray v. Mariner Health (PDF), a case challenging the statute, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the statue was ambiguous and that the fee compensating the attorney at $8.11 per hour for securing benefits was unreasonable. It didn’t take long for certain industry to attack the ruling. The following day Associated Industries of Florida, one of the largest insurance industries in the state of Florida, criticized the…Read More

Do you ever wonder what would happen if an injury or illness wiped out all of your savings?  You may say “I have disability insurance for that”.  That’s a good start, but what if they don’t pay?  Then what?  Do you have a back up plan?  Waiting to find out could cost you everything you own. If you have already purchased a disability policy, here is some of what you should look for: How long is your elimination period? The elimination period is the amount of time you must remain disabled before the insurance company will begin paying you.  For most long term disability, the elimination period is 180 days.  That means you will need at least enough money to…Read More

...received the Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles award from the National Business Group on Health this month. Perhaps the message is “We’ll treat you well…….as long as you are well”. www.lawyersandsettlements.comRead More

Check out “Insurance Company Rules” - a collaboration between Health Care For America Now (HCAN) and Public Service Administration (PSA).Read More

Does it seem like the insurance company is taking too long to decide your claim?  Are they asking you for extension, after extension after extension to decide your claim?  Do they ask you to send them more evidence of your disability only send you back a big fat denial?  Delays and denials by the insurance company are just some of the frustrations expressed by our clients in ERISA disability clients.  While the regulations set the standard on the time limits of when the insurance company must decide an initial application or an appeal of a denied claim, as well as how many extensions they can request and the length of the extensions, there are things you can do to help…Read More

Did you know that in insurance disability claims the insurance company can secretly videotape your activities?  That’s right; the van parked down the street could have a video camera watching your every move. When they send you that activity log to fill out, don’t be fooled.  They are not really wanting to know how limited you are in your activities; they want to see if they can catch you in a lie about your activities.  When you complete those activity logs NEVER say you NEVER engage in any specific activity. Follow your doctor’s advice on what activities you can engage in and those you should avoid. Keep a diary of your daily activates which you can refer to when completing…Read More

By Will Dunham Tue Mar 18, 2:44 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A surprising number of people — more than 60 percent — still suffer significant pain a year after a traumatic injury in a car crash or other cause, showing the need for better pain treatment, researchers said. In a study published on Monday in the journal Archives of Surgery, researchers tracked 3,047 patients ages 18 to 84 from 14 U.S. states who survived an acute traumatic injury.A year after the injury, 63 percent reported that they still experienced pain related to the injury, with most having pain in more than one region of the body. On average, the patients assessed their pain at 5.5 on a 10-point scale…Read More